Early Saturday morning, August 7th 2004, Suzy and I started up
Mount Massive
from the Mount Massive Trailhead. We had considered either the East Ridge or
the Southeast Ridge Route, but the weather forecast wasn't that good, and afternoon
storm activity was almost certain, so we chose the easier and faster East Slopes Route
for this ascent. After a long easy hike below and along timberline, Massive finally
came into view. Having done this Mountain from the west years ago, ascending the West
Slopes and descending the Southwest Slopes which were both annoyingly steep, the East
Slopes Route was looking a whole lot more enjoyable.

Just up from the saddle now, I took this shot looking northwest up the
ridge, with only about
400 vertical feet
to go. The weather had been great up until now, but the clouds sneaking over the ridge
from the west were going to change that soon enough.

Standing at the summit, I looked back at the wanna-be storm that had
just hit us. This was just the first of many weak clouds that would hit through-out the
rest of the day. The serious wet stuff held off until after we were back down to the
trailhead though, but we were glad to have avoided the ridge routes anyway.

On our way back down to the saddle, this view of the Southeast Ridge
had me wishing the weather forecast had been a little better. I would have really liked
ascending this route. While coming up this ridge shortens the total distance by about a
mile, it also adds nearly
600 feet
to the total elevation gain for the day.

Looking more to the south now, there's Mount Elbert (the highest peak
in the Rocky Mountains) just coming out of the shadow of the passing storm, and La
Plata Peak further back and to the right.

Zooming in for a better look at La Plata Peak gives a great view of
its cool North Face with the classic,
two mile
long, Ellingwood Ridge extending out in front.

As an after thought, still fairly close to the summit, I turned to get
this shot, with Massive Green down the ridge to the northwest of the summit.

Back to timberline, with four miles ahead, visions of microbrews danced
in my head. I love the alpine beauty at this altitude.

On our way home from an early spring hiking trip to the Colorado
National Monument and the Black Canyon, April 2006, Suzy and I stopped periodically
to get some shots of the peak conditions along the Sawatch Range. This shot of Mount
Massive was my favorite of the series.